Hair clipper



' July 22, 1952 w, A, SNEED 2,603,865

HAIR CLIPPER Filed Dec. 30, 1949 2 SHEETS-SHEET l JIINVENTOR. BY E's/5E9 July 22, 1952 w. A. SNEED HAIR CLIPPER 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Filed Dec. 30, 1949 62' JNVENTOR. BY W AMA/5E1? Patented July 22, 1952 HAIR CLIPPER Wellington Arthur Sneed, Blue Grass, Iowa Application December so, 1949,. Serial No. 136,073

I 7 claims. (01.30 232) The present invention relates to hair cutting devices and particularly to hair clippers and the like. 1

, The object and general nature of this invention is the provision of a hair cutting implement by which one may cuthis own hair easily and conveniently, especially the hair at the back of the head and neck. More specifically, it is an important feature of this invention to provide a hair cutting device which is especially constructed to beheld-by one hand, with the fingers engaging the device' at itsupper portion when it is held back of the neck or head and with the thumb engaging and operating the cutting unit by an upward movement of the thumb, as by the simple act of contracting the hand when it holds the device back ofthe head, with the finger-receiving portions disposed upwardly.

7 Further objects of this invention are the provision of a hair cutting device having detachable and interchangeable comb'units, so as to adapt the device for most convenient use with either thinor thick hair and for cutting hair of different lengths and/or under variable conditions of use; the provision of a hair cutting device comprising a fixed cutterbar and a swingable cutter blade pivota'lly associated therewith by means which facilitates adjustmentoi the pivot axis of v the swingable element; and such furtherobjects,

advantages, and capabilities as will hereinafter appear and as are inherentin the construction disclosed herein. My invention further resides in thencombination, construction, and arrangement off parts illustratedin the accompanying drawings and, while I have shown therein what isnow, regarded as the preferred embodiment, ofthis invention, I desire the same to be under-- stood as illustrative only and not to be inter:

preted in a limiting sense.

In the drawings annexed hereto and forming a a ar e 'Fig; 1 is a side view of one form of my in'viition Fig.2 is-a bottom View taken along the plane indicated by the line 22, Fig. l;

Fig, 3 is a top view taken along the plane indi-* cated by the line 33, Fig. 1

- Fig. 4 is an end view taken substantially along the plane indicated by the'line l d, Fig. 1, with the swingabl its cutting stroke;

. Fig. -5.is a similar view, showing the swingable cutter blade in a position to begin I; UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Fig. 7 is a detail view of one of the auxiliary comb guide units attachable to the frame ofthe device; u V I Fig. 8 is aside view of the comb guide member shown in Fig. 7; g W

Fig. 9 is an end view of the same comb guide member;

Figs. 10 to 12 are views similar to Figs. 7 to, 9, showing another form of auxiliarycomb guide; Figs. 13 to 15 are detail views of the swing: ably mounted cutterblade; and Fig. 16 is a sectional view showing the latching means for holding the auxiliary comb member in place. v

- Reference will now be made in greater detail to the annexed drawings for a more complete description of this invention. In Figs, 1 to 5, the hair cutting device of the present invention;in corporates a frame I comprising an elongated member having at one end a finger hold section 2 provided with three finger holes 3 and atthe otherend with a forked section 4 having sides 5 and 6, the plane of the latter lying at right angles to the plane of the finger holdsection 2'. Fixed to the forked section 4.of the frame I, between the sides- 5 and 6 thereof, is a U-shapedpart 9v which has sides II and I2 fixed to thesides '5 and '6. The central section I3 of the U-shaped part9 carries a stationary cutterbar I I which is secured in place by; bolts I5, or other suitable means, and a toothed comb guide section It hav ing a plurality of teeth I'I extending at an acute angle; relative to the frame I 'and'directed, in

a ll-shaped part 25 having sides 26 andZ'I aperetured to receive the pivot shaft 23. 'One of they Shanna is carried in a shiftable bearing 23, the

position'of which relative to the frame I is ad-,

jus'ted by a screw-threaded member ZS carried in lugs 30 on the side I2, as best shown in Figs. 3

and 5. The other end of the pivot shaft-His pressed toward the cutter-bar I4 by a spring biased'plunger 33 connected to the shaft 23'and acted upon by a spring 34 disposed in acasing 35' which is fixed to the side I I. Adjustment ofthe spring '34 is effected by a'screw-threaded member 36 at theoute'r end of thespring casin'g'35} The rockable cutter unit 24 has atits central portion an extension 38 which is approximately a segment of a cylinder and upon which a cutter blade 39, in an angled position, is fixed, as by screws 4i and a clamp bar 42 which the screws 4| fasten to the extension 38. A thumb-receiving socket 43 is formed on the member 24 by a thumb strap 44, attached in any suitable manner to the central section of the U-shaped member 25. The swingable member 24 is biased for movement to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 6 by a torsion spring 4'! encircling the shaft 23 and having one end 48 fixed to the stationary frame side II, and the other end 49 is fixed to the side 21 of the rockable cutter unit 24. A

sleeve 5| extends around the spring 41.

The comb guide teeth I? are primarily de-, i

are fixed. A curved pin 65 is secured to each end of the bar 6! and they are adapted to be detachably received in a pair of openings 65 in the end portions of the U-shaped frame part 9, and held therein by any suitable holding means 61', comprising a lever pivoted at 68, actuated into holding position by a spring 69 and provided with aholding' nose fi'iw engaging the notches in the pinstfi or 19. Thepins 65 may be ridged or serratedflf desired. The unit 60 is shaped so'that the teeth 64 lie below the teeth' H The auxiliary comb guide unit 10 is substantially' like the unit except that the teeth H are longerthan the teeth 64. The'base 12 is dimensionally similar to the base SI and the attachingpins' l3 are adapted to be mounted in theopenings 66, the same as the pins The operation of this device is as follows. The

user places first, second, and third fingers in the openings} at the end of the frame l, and then places his thumb in the thumb socket 43. This enables'the user to firmly hold the device. Held in this fashion, when the user brings his hand back of-hi's head in a natural position, regardless of whether the device is held in the left hand orin the right hand, the finger hold end 2 is uppermost and the comb guide I6 is in a lowermost position with the teeth i? extending upwardly. Then, by bringing the device close to the head, the teeth ll willengage the hair and movement of thethumb toward the fingers, which isa natural grasping movement, will act to swing the thumb section 43 forwardly and up- Wardly, causing the rockable cutter blade 39 to swing downwardly across the stationary blade l4 'in 'hair-cutting relation; The blade 39 engages the cutterbar 14 at an angle, as best shown in'Fig. '5, and the end of the blade 39 which first engages the cutterbar i4 is rounded, as indicated at 55in Fig; 13. The relation between the end-550i the blade 39 and the stationary cutterbar'or blade 14 is controlled by shaft'adejustment 28, 29, 39, described above. The other portions of the blade 39, as it moves across the fixedblade M, are pressed againstthe' latter by the spring 34' and associated parts, thereby assuring positive cutting or shearing action.

It is of course understood that the specific de scription; of structure set forth above may be departed from without departing from the spirit of my invention as disclosed herein. and as defined in the appended claims. o, Having now described my invention, I claim:-

1. A hair cutting device comprising, in general, a U-shaped frame having a central section and a pair of spaced apart apertured ends, each of the latter being slotted, a fixed cutterbar carried by said central section, a pivot shaft extending through said apertures, an oscillatable part comprising a curved blade holder having at its ends a pair of arms supporting the curved blade holder for oscillating back and forth across the fixed cutterbar, said arms being mounted on said shaft and said oscillatable part fixedly carrying .a curved blade operable against said fixed cutterbar when said part is oscillated, and spring means acting between said frame and the end of said shaft that extends through said slotted end.

2.A hair cutting device comprising a frame having a finger hold section at one end and a yoke section at the other end, said finger hold section being provided with a plurality of fingerreceiving holes, said yoke section lying in a plane at right angles to the plane of said finger hold section, a lever pivoted to said yoke section and including a thumb socket swingable toward and V away from said finger hold section, and hair cutting means rotatably carried by said yoke section, between the side portions thereof and connected to be actuated by said lever.

-3. A hair cutting device comprising a frame having a finger hold section at one end and a yoke section at theothen end, said finger hold section being provided with a plurality of finger-receiv ing holes, said yoke section lying in a plane at right angles to the plane of said finger hold section, a stationary cutterbar carried by said yoke section, between the sides thereof, a blade yoke having side portions pivoted to the sides of said yoke for movement about an axis, in general, parallel to but spaced from said stationary cutterbar, a blade carried by the central portion of said blade yoke and shiftable across'said stationary cutterbar in hair-cutting relation, and a thumb strap fixed to said blade yoke and shiftable toward said finger hold section for shifting said blade across the stationary cutterbar.

4. A hair cutting device comprising an elongated frame having means at one end to receive the fingers of one hand of the operator, a cutterbar carried at the other end of said frame transverselythereof, a U-shaped part disposed trans- ,versely of said-frame at saidother end and having side portions pivoted to the frame at points adjacent the'ends of said cutterbar, a cutter blade carried by the central part of said U-shaped said forked section and having its sides fixed.

being' slo'tted, a rockable blade carrier compris ing a U-shaped part having its sides-apertured and including a central section swingable toward and away from the central part of said stationary U-shaped. member, and a thumb strap ,fixed to the central sectionof said rockable blade carrier and movable, approximately, in the plane of said finger openings at the other end of the frame and toward and away from said finger openings, a pivot shaft extending through the apertures in the sides of the rockable blade carrier and through the slots in the sides of the fixed U-shaped member, a cutter blade carried by the central section of said rockable carrier and shiftable across said stationary cutterbar when said blade carrier is rocked in one direction about said pivot shaft, and a spring encircling said shaft and having one end connected to the carrier and the other end connected to one side of said stationary U-shaped member so as to swing said blade carrier away from said cutter,- bar when pressure against said thumb strap is relaxed.

6. A hair cutting device comprising an elongated frame having means at one end to receive the fingers of one hand of the operator, a cutterbar carried at the other end of said frame transversely thereof, a U-shaped part disposed transversely of said frame at said other end and having side portions pivoted to the frame at points adjacent the ends of said cutterbar, a cutter blade oscillated by the central part of said U-shaped part and movable across said cutterbar, transversely of the plane of said cutterbar, a thumb piece fixed to said part and movable by the thumb of the operator toward said end of the frame for shifting said cutter blade across said bar, the frame having slots'in the sides thereof, said U-shaped part having a shaft extending through the sides, and a spring for pressing the shaft toward the cutterbar.

7. A hair cutting device comprising an elongated frame having finger openings at one end and a forked section at the other end, the plane of said finger openings and the plane of said forked section lying at right angles, a U-shaped member disposed between said portions of said forked section and having its sides fixed to the side portions of the forked section, a stationary cutterbar fixed to the central part of said U-shaped member,-the sides of the latter being slotted, a rockable blade carrier comprising a U-shaped part having its sides apertured and including a central section swingable toward and away from the central part of said stationary U-shaped member, and a thumb strap fixed to the central section of said rockable blade carrier and movable, approximately, in the plane of said finger openings at the other end of the frame and toward and away from said finger openings, a pivot shaft extending through the apertures in the sides of the rockable blade carrier and through the slots in the sides of the. fixed U-shaped member, a cutter blade carried by the central section of said rockable carrier and shiftable across said stationary cutterbar when said blade carrier is rocked in one direction about said pivot shaft, and a screw-threaded adjustment means for adjusting the cutter blade.

WELLINGTON ARTHUR SNEED'.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 238,353 Coates Mar. 1, 1881 341,006 Hildebrand May 4, 1886 481,977 Smith Sept. 6, 1892 601,309 Stevener Mar.'29, 1898 997,396 Lincoln July 11, 1911 1,086,774 Kesling Feb. 10, 1914 1,251,925 Scheithe Jan. 1, 1918 1,301,712 Krause Apr. 22, 1919 1,496,009 McIntosh June 3, 1924 1,791,228 Scheiwer Feb. 3,1931 2,024,915 Dufty Dec. 17, 1935 2,184,909 Crompton Dec. 26, 1939 2,292,175 Suozzi Aug. 4, 1942 2,480,797 Weber Aug. 30, 1949 2,485,787 Sutch Oct. 25, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country I Date 532 Great Britain Feb. 20, 1869 position of the 

